LETTER TO STUDENT

It is true that being a student of a rural school you have

to face many inconveniences. But you must remember
that you have many advantages too. In towns and cities,
the havoc created by television, cinema, hotels and
blaring loudspeakers much disturbs the studies of
students. On the other hand, the uncontaminated
atmosphere and tranquil surroundings of the villages
make them ideal for studies with good concentration.
Though the students in cities have various facilities, the
possibility of their falling prey to harmful distractions is
high. You must be knowing how parents and teachers
have to constantly keep vigil and protect them from
lurking dangers. Now, coming to your problem--you have
written, 'I am now in the tenth standard; the lessons
have commenced, but I am unable to understand many
of them'. Another student also has written to me that his
teachers do not teach properly. That is his misfortune. At
least you are lucky that you have good teachers. Well,
here are a few suggestions that will, I hope, help you to
understand the lessons better and pass the exams
successfully.

1. First and foremost--as soon as you wake up, have a

wash and offer 'pranams' to God and to your
parents. Your daily routine should begin with this.
Never doubt the truth that it is the blessings of God
and elders that brings success to your endeavors.
 You may ask, 'When the right endeavors themselves
can bring the desired results, what is the necessity
of blessings?' But you must know that those
blessings will endow you with the right state of mind
to undertake your work. You might not realize this
until you grow older. But for now, you just believe in
these words of wise people. There is another
interesting point: you do not have to ask them for
their blessings. When you bow down to God and
elders with sincere devotion, the thought--'May he
be blessed!' --arises spontaneously in their hearts.
This is the law.

2. Let me now tell you about the significance of having

a time-table. You know pretty well how prayer,
classes and games are all accommodated in your
school hours within regular periods and so many
lessons are covered. The secret behind this is the
time-table. Yet, students these days return home
from school and instead of revising the lessons,
while away their time in only playing, watching the
television, reading novels and roaming about. When
the exams approach near, they try to study all the
texts together, get tensed up and feel miserable.
This is not how students and studies ought to be.
Those who neglect their studies do not deserve to be
called students. However, there are some students,
who, either with the guidance of their parents and
teachers or by themselves, being disciplined and
 sincere, study regularly according to a time-table
and proceed with the lessons easily. You too must
learn this tact. Find out how much of time you are
left with, apart from your school hours. Sundays and
half of Saturdays are yours, as also the let-off hours.
If you can intelligently utilize every minute of the
time thus given to you, not only will you be able to
revise all the lessons but you will truly build up a
great personality. It is impossible to make good use
of time without a time-table. How should you draw a
time-table? First of all, fix up the hours of going to
bed and walking up. If these timings change, your
time-table will be in vain. Being young, it is best for
you to go to bed at ten in the night and wake up at
five in the morning. A sound sleep at night is most
essential for your mind to be calm, steady and fresh
throughout the day. If you utilize the seventeen
hours of the day efficiently you can do wonders and
if you give sufficient work to your body and mind,
you can be sure of enjoying undisturbed sleep
during the night. Between the hours when you wake
up in the morning and go to bed at night, you must
have time for your prayers, studies and all other
activities. For this you must prepare a suitable time-
table yourself. Or you may take the help of your
teachers in this regard.

3. After your bath you should allot some time--ten

minutes of half an hour, as much as you are capable
 of--for chanting of 'stotras', prayers and meditation.
This is very helpful in developing a balanced and
healthy mind. You must also pray to God like this
before going to bed: 'O Lord, with your grace, I have
been able to utilize this day worthily. Yet there
might have been some shortcomings. Bless me with
strength and discrimination to overcome my faults
and lead me forward.' Pray from the bottom of your
heart and God will certainly answer your prayers.
What more? You can witness your mind growing
stronger day by day.

4. I have mentioned about bath--please do not ever

neglect this. As sweat forms and evaporates during
the course of the day, the salts contained in it dry
up and get deposited on the skin. Dust gets added
to this. If you do not care to wash and clean your
body and hair properly, the mind will get restless
and slowly loses its vigor. This will damage both
your ability to study and to remember whatever is
studied. It is better to cultivate the habit of taking
bath in the morning and again in the evening.
Bathing in cold water is best; if this is not possible,
use Luke-warm water, but, never hot water. If you
want to get used to cold water: firstly, the body and
mind will remain active and fresh. Secondly, this is
very helpful for the observance of 'brahmacharya.'

5. Now, coming to the point of time-table: I would like

to make a small suggestion here. You must make it
 a point to read before-hand all the lessons which are
taught each day in the school. If you do so, you will
be able to grasp the subject well when the teacher
explains it. You will come to understand the portions
that you had not understood when you read the
lesson by yourself. With your doubts now cleared,
you can revise these lessons at home in the
evenings. So, prepare before going to school and
revise after returning home. Please make an
experiment with this for just three months. You will
be surprised with the results. If you can continue the
practice right through the year with a little grit and
determination, neither will the lessons bore you, nor
will the exams seem strenuous. But, you must know
that if you vow to stick on to this practice strictly,
you cannot afford to waste time in roaming about,
watching television for hours and chatting with
friends. You will have to be like one observing a
vow, until the annual exams are over. Indeed,
education is a vow to be fulfilled. So, please know
that you are under a pledge. The truth is this--
teachers are bound to the oath of imparting
knowledge and students, of receiving it and making
it their own through deep study. Nothing can be
achieved without a strong will-power.

6. One more word regarding the time-table. You should

draw up special time-tables from time to time, apart
from the regular one, to utilize the extra time in
 hand, during special holidays like festivals,
Christmas, etc.

7. It is better if others at home are informed about your

time-table, so that they will not disturb you with
other jobs during your study-hours. When you once
sit down to study, you should get immersed in it for
at least an hour without getting up or peeping out of
the window. This might be difficult at first, but if you
persist with your efforts, both your body and mind
will gradually come fully under your control. At the
end of an hour, leave your seat, stroll about in the
open air, drink a glass of water and come back to
your studies. Drinking water now and then improves
the flow of blood, thereby activating the mind.

8. You are likely to come across difficult words while

reading. So always keep a dictionary with you. If
you learn the correct usage of every word, your
command over the language will grow, making your
study increasingly fruitful. If the meanings of the
words are well understood, the contents will be
understood more clearly; then, enthusiasm to read
and assimilate more and more will be naturally
created. In this way, repeatedly revise your
lessons--read and understand, understand and read.
This is the secret to master the lessons. There are
many students who want to know the technique of
improving their memory. This is best done by
understanding the lessons clearly, reading them
 repeatedly and also practicing them in writing. I
shall let you know some more ideas by and by.

9. I hope you do have a table and chair. If not, you

should at least have a small desk. Make sure that
there is appropriate distance between your eyes and
the desk. Keeping your face close to the book will
strain eyes and mind quickly and your studies will
suffer.

10. Next, please see that you use good pens and pencils.
It is advisable to have two good pens with you.
Never let others use them. The style of holding a
pen varies from person to person. So you can guess
the consequence of lending your pens to others. You
will have to practice writing with a new pen for a few
days before you can use it comfortably. It is possible
to maintain a good handwriting even while writing
with speed, only with a good pen. The examiners will
expect your papers to be neat and legibly written. If
your answers are neat, they will gladly award more
marks, whereas if your writings are clumsy, you
might lose even the marks that are rightly due to
you. Therefore pay attention to your writing. Good
handwriting demands five important things: 1. The
letters must be well-formed. 2. There should not be
any blots and scratches. 3. There must be no
spelling mistakes. 4. Lines must be straight. 5.
Sentences must be grammatically correct. You
should know that both reading and writing constitute
 your study. Accuracy in writing is as important as
discreet reading. Since you have to answer all the
questions within a fixed time, should you not
practice fast writing? You must practice a little
writing every day without fail.

11. I have to say a couple of words about practicing

writing. Make it a habit to practice copy-writing. I
still remember our teacher making us practice copy-
writing everyday when I was a student. I remember
that well, because he used to put his cane to good
use during the process! There were beatings each
time-- when the letters were not neat, when there
were mistakes. When the lines were not straight,
when the letters were uneven in size, when the
spacing between words was not proper, when letters
were found tumbling over each other; and other
instances were when the copy-writing was not tidy
or when copy-writing was not done at all--that called
for additional beating! So there would be beatings
and beatings for one fault or the other. Thus did we
learn our lessons! Of course we were then angry
with the teacher for flourishing his cane on us, but
now I remember him with gratitude. You do not
have to practice copy-writing by writing the same
line over and over again like primary school children.
Daily write a couple of paragraphs from your
textbooks in each of the languages you have to
study. You yourself try to judge if the letters are
 neat and the lines are straight and check for
mistakes with the help of the text. You will realize
how careful one has to be even to copy what is
given, correctly. That is about copy-writing. You also
have to develop the ability of writing about a topic
on your own. You can take the help of your text-
book for this. Read through a whole lesson carefully
and reflect upon the contents. Then close the book
and write it in your own words. Now compare and
contrast what you have written with the text. Also
check if the letters are well written, the lines are
straight and how many times you have blundered
and struck off what was written. Note down the time
you took to write the whole thing. The next time
when you write something try to avoid all the
mistakes committed earlier. With this sort of
practice, you will be able to write both neatly and
correctly in the exams.

12. Studyingto fare well in the exams is as important as

studying to gain
knowledge. One may be intelligent and may have
knowledge. But what beauty is there if he fails in the
exams? For success in the exams, you should pay
equal attention to all the subjects. You have written
that mathematics and science do not interest you
much. But you should evoke interest and study them
for the sake of the exams at least. You will have to
take more interest in subjects that you find difficult.
You should, with extra efforts, try to assimilate
those portions with the help of your teachers or
intelligent classmates. Is not education equal to a
penance? You must strive hard.
It is true that you will have to memorize certain
portions. But never attempt to learn by-heart whole
lessons. Some students very 'bravely' try to pass
exams by mugging-up notes--that too not their own!
Do not ever attempt to do this. If you indeed
understand each and every word of the lessons, they
will remain rooted in your memory better than with
attempt at mugging-up.
13. There is yet another way of retaining the lessons
in memory. On Sundays and other holidays you
should gather three or four of your classmates for
group study; and after that, hold group discussions
and exchange thoughts. Thereby each more of you
will be sharing what he knows with the others and
the topics discussed will get registered in your
minds. Hearing is always very effective. You might
have seen many men and women who would have
gathered a lot of information just by listening to
discourses and 'harikatha puranas'. Therefore
cultivate the habit of discussing the lessons with
your classmates. What you read you may not
remember, but whatever you hear from others will
generally get imprinted in the mind. And again,
studying and discussing in a group arouses
enthusiasm. Then the mind becomes energetic and
your studies will prove more fruitful. But beware of
wasting time in idle talk. Because when friends
gather.... you know what happens!
14. I have yet to tell you a very important point.
Always sit in one of the benches in the front during
the classes. Keep your eyes and ears fixed wholly on
the teacher and listen attentively to what he says.
Pleased with your sincerity he too will bestow more
attention on you. Be polite and faithful with regard
to all your teachers. Whatever be the comments
passed by other students against teachers, never
get influenced or perturbed. However stern a
teacher might be, if you behave respectfully, he will
be kind and considerate towards you.
There are some students who say--'Knowing the
personal life of certain teachers, we do not feel like
respecting them.' But let me tell you one thing--
never try to know about the personal lives of such
teachers. Do not hear what other students speak
about such matters. Look upon all your teachers
with the feeling that in their hearts resides the same
Eternal Teacher--Sachidananda Guru. Though you
may find this difficult to understand, believe in these
words of wisdom and act accordingly. This feeling
will definitely help you and do immense good to you.
15. Some students approach me during the months
of February and March and ask me how they can
develop concentration. They say that they want to
control the mind and some say they want to practice
meditation. Is it not wonderful?! But what they
actually want to know is whether there is some
technique whereby the whole lot of lessons,
neglected through-out the year, can be miraculously
taken into the brain at one stroke! But, alas, there is
no such miracle in the world. The secret of good
memory-power is, repeated reading and
understanding, recollecting and re-reading what is
forgotten. Bhagavad-Gita says that concentration is
achieved by perseverance and practice. What is
perseverance? It is to attempt again and again, day
after day. The mind will naturally become
concentrated if you study systematically every day.
The power produced by practice is immense.
Yet another important requisite in developing
concentration is to develop a liking for your studies.
You must love your lessons. Your mind will get
concentrated in whatever you truly love. This is a
natural law. You should therefore cultivate a liking
for your lessons. This will help you to concentrate on
them during your studies.
16. These are some of the things directly related to
your studies. There are certain other things that
need your attention. Firstly, food. Eating the proper
quantity of nutritious food at the proper hours keeps
your mind calm and fresh. Over-eating induces
sleep, eating less causes exhaustion. Irregular
intake of food robs the mind of its calmness.
17. Now, about exercise for the body. Let those who
play do so. But you either practice 'Yogasanas' or do
free-hand exercises. It is sufficient if within three-
fourths of an hour every limb of your body is
exercised. Never overdo exercises nor discontinue
their practice. Always remember this counsel
regarding exercises.
18. You can avoid many diseases by always drinking
boiled and cooled water. Diseases are a major
obstacle in the path of your progress. They cripple
the enthusiasm of the mind and the body. So
beware!
19. Now, this is another very important point that
you have to note--enthusiasm Be ever filled with
zeal Ceaseless enthusiasm! It is this that make4s us
victorious in all walks of life. You should become a
spring of unceasing enthusiasm. Your elders should
have created this enthusiasm in you by encouraging
you. But when most of the elders are weighed down
by their own problems and expect encouragement
themselves, how will they provide you with
enthusiasm? Therefore you will have to bring it out
from within yourself.
You can resort to another plan for this. Order
yourself thus: 'In the coming exams I shall score
more marks than my friends and pass creditably'.
This will undoubtedly build up determination in you.
In effect, you should be enthusiastic like a bouncing
ball and not be like soaked flattened-rice! Be
cheerful always. If you wear a long face with a
frown, it will put out even the little enthusiasm that
you have. If you try to wear a beaming
countenance, by and by your enthusiasm will
multiply and make you the very image of infinite
energy, vitality and zest. As a result, your studies
will become enjoyable and successful. Please see
that the fountain of your enthusiasm springs higher
and higher with each successive day.
Another word about zeal--if the mind is free from
sleepiness, it remains wide-awake and active.
Thereby it would naturally remain enthusiastic. This
enthusiasm will in turn fight away drowsiness and
keep your mind alert. From this observation do you
not realize that, as a result of guarding your
enthusiasm, your mind will always remain lively?
You might have seen many students drink coffee or
tea from time to time in order to stay awake. But
gradually the coffee or tea will get 'suited' to your
constitution and that itself will induce sleep! So, the
best way of maintaining enthusiasm is to develop
the ambition of scoring high marks and cultivate a
healthy competitive spirit.
20. Do you know of an enemy in your path? It is
fear: 'Examination-fear!' This attacks most of the
students. Under its stress, those who are weak
become victims of fever and suffer from vomiting
and loose- motions. The word 'Examination fever'
has been specially coined for this 'disease.' The basic
reason for this is nothing but fear of the exams.
Even the students who have studied well and
prepared well become nervous at the time of exams.
Then what to speak of other students? So, to get out
of this fear, tell yourself--'What will I gain by feeling
afraid? I will only fall sick. Should I get panicky for
the sake of falling sick? Never! I shall study well and
face the exams boldly.'
Here lies the solution to examination fear. What is
it? Studying right from the beginning of the year
systematically. A regular, disciplined student need
not fear the exams. Yet, fear is inherent in man. So,
with all your studies you may experience fear. There
are possibilities of fear gripping the mind, when you
see other lazy students of your class panic-- 'Oh! the
exams are fast approaching, my revision is not yet
over. What shall I do!' But know for sure that if you
shelter this fear, it will deprive your mind and body
of their strength. The only result can be this-- you
will seem to forget all that you have studied while
writing the exam. It is this fear that makes you write
confused answers.
Therefore, it is important to root out the fear-
complex lurking in your mind, by combining self-
confidence with disciplined study.
21. Now, you have heard a new word: self-
confidence! What does it mean? It means faith in
your own strength, faith in your studies. The strong
conviction that you would write the exams well, with
a calm mind--this is self-confidence. If you can
develop this, fear vanishes and enthusiasm springs
up.
22. So, you have come to know many things now. If
you understand them all, you can be sure of
success. There is one final advice-- you should keep
reading this letter now and then. You must
assimilate what all has been written here, before
commencing your study. You should also check now
and then whether you are regular in following these
suggestions without fail.
May the Lord bless you to successfully pass your
next exams with flying colors!
With love and best wishes,
---Swami Purushottamananda.